One Last Wish
by Fenix139
Summary: Not everything goes as we expected. Sometimes we make compromises but they aren't always what we really wanted. A newly formed family, destroyed before they could've enjoyed the first fruits of happiness that awaited them, separated by an interminable ocean, vast lands, and tall mountains... However, fate always reserves some surprises, which can be imperceptible or life-changing.


Chapter 1

* * *

Snowflakes fell from the sky, giving a little bit of color to this dark and clumsy winter night; all accompanied by gusts of wind that gave voice to the landscape, gently caressing through the branches of the trees and distributing the snows on the roads. A faint glow of lights was emitted from the houses scattered around the territory, which, joining the street lights, they all illuminated and accentuated the wonder of the nature that was happening at that moment.

In a house not far from all this, warm and joyful air could be breathed; numerous dishes were placed on a large table in the middle of the living room, all full of food that couldn't wait to be eaten. The walls were perhaps decorated in an excessive and exaggerated way, with numerous Christmas decorations where the red color reigned uncontested. On the old wood-burning fireplace, numerous socks were hung, waiting to be filled with who knows what gifts the day after.

A man on his thirties was currently sitting on the sofa, before him, there was a large Christmas tree, meticulously decorated, with no branches too bare of decorations. His gaze was lost and his expression was very thoughtful because, for a few years, Christmas was no longer the same for him and he had a hard time accepting all this.

"Dad! Look at what grandma gave me!" a young girl said, running happily towards him and showing a pendant in her hands.

The man smiled as soon as he met his eyes with those of his daughter. "What a beautiful present you received, Anna! Thank your grandmother for me too," he replied, showing a sincere smile and then adjusting a lock of hair on his daughter's forehead. He was immediately rewarded by a smile from her, a smile that was enough to bewitch him that he immediately forgot what was bothering him a moment ago.

"Dad, my gift is the best!" a boy said, his name was Raffaele and he was a few years older than Anna. In his hands, he was holding an old wooden top which clearly belonged to someone else before him.

"It's only me or it is a little too early for presents?" the father asked his two children, struggling to contain himself from laughing as he watched the joy of the two kids.

"It's indeed early for presents, but we still had to entertain these hyperactive grandchildren in some way, don't you agree?" the man's father-in-law said, smiling as he was getting closer to them. "Marco, come to the table with us, don't tell me that you are going to spend the whole evening sitting here alone?"

"You're right, I'm coming!" he answered, getting up from the couch with the help of his two hands.

At the table there were only two other people besides Marco; his father-in-law sat at the head of the table while Leonardo, his brother-in-law, stood in front of him. His mother-in-law and Leonardo's wife were also present in the house, but now they were in another room talking. His children were too busy to join them and so they were around the house to do who knows what.

"Marco, were you going to stay there all by yourself?" his brother-in-law asked sarcastically.

"No, it's just that I'm still struggling to spend a Christmas without her..." Marco replied, silencing his brother-in-law's laughter in an instant.

"You aren't the only one, we struggle too but for today, just don't think about her, ok?" his father-in-law said, putting a hand on his shoulder to reassure him.

"You're right," Marco replied, closing his eyes momentarily and taking a deep breath. After doing so, he soon found his smile back and immediately calmed the people who were sitting with him at the table.

"Come on, Marco! You cannot come here and then go home sober!" Leonardo said as he raised his glass of wine, trying to involve the one who had been more apart from the others.

"Leonardo... I told you that I'll be the one who will bring my children back home, I cannot get drunk right now!" Marco replied.

"Don't talk nonsense, it's Christmas Eve, don't tell me that you're gonna drive home with all that snow falling from the sky?! Today you will be my guest, I have two spare rooms for you and your children," Leonardo replied, insisting on making Marco drink some of the wine he had at the table.

Marco showed a dubious expression in front of Leonardo's proposal, he gave a quick glance in the direction of his two children, seeing them smiling as they played together with their grandmother and their cousins, laughing as they happily had fun together. He couldn't help but smile in front of what he was seeing.

He sighed as he already knew what expression and face to expect from his brother-in-law as soon as he formulated his answer. "All right, you've won this time... give me a few minutes to go back home and carry all the presents under our tree," he answered resignedly but at the same time, strangely happy after seeing how much everyone was having fun around him.

"Marco, you don't have to go home with all this snow for just some presents..." his father-in-law said, clearly showing a disapproval expression.

"Christmas comes only once a year, and then... I cannot let my children make a bad impression in front of their cousins," he replied, letting a mischievous smile slip from his face. His father-in-law wasn't entirely convinced but knowing him, there were few things in the world that were able to make him change his mind, he had never pulled back if there was the happiness of his children at stake.

"Don't be late and be careful!" his brother-in-law said after opening the door and making sure to see him get into the car.

Leonardo locked the door, immediately heading back to the table where his father was. "He hasn't changed a bit, always putting the happiness of others on top of his," His father said, resting his arms on the table as he assumed a thoughtful position.

"He's still struggling to overcome Elena's loss..." Leonardo added, sitting down at the table and turning his head in his father's direction.

"And who wouldn't miss a girl as joyful as your sister? It's a pity that she left us so early..."

"I must admit that Elena knows how to choose the partner of her life," Leonardo said, smiling as he watched his brother-in-law's children play with his.

"And to think that at the beginning I even opposed to their relationship, I was really foolish to not see what kind of men is Marco..."

"We all make mistakes but the important thing is to realize it as soon as possible," Leonardo said, only to be interrupted by a light touch behind his back. "Oh Anna, what do you have to ask me?" he replied smiling.

"Where did dad go?" she asked innocently as she looked around the room.

"Your father went back home to bring your presents here, tonight you'll all sleep here, are you happy, right?" her grandfather replied.

"He will come back soon, right?" she asked as if she wasn't satisfied with the answer she just received.

"He'll be back before you even know it!" her uncle reassured her. Anna nodded, smiling and then went back to her cousins, leaving her grandfather and her uncle in amazement.

"She is just like Elena... two peas in a pod..." her grandfather said, sighing as he drank from his glass of wine.

"I'm sure that It's very hard for Marco to have to see the reflection of his wife from his daughter's face..." Leonardo added.

"Marco is strong, sometimes he just needs a little push."

•••

Marco wasted no time and turned on his car, setting it in motion and then venturing into the deserted streets on Christmas Eve. "Leonardo was right, it's snowing really hard, in a few hours I probably won't even be able to drive under these conditions..." Marco thought aloud as he tried to be as prudent as possible.

He speeds along vast fields now empty and covered with snow while the lights of his car lit up the little that they could the road in front of him. As he imagined, the streets were really empty, he couldn't even see single pedestrians... After all, who the hell would venture under this snowfall and moreover on Christmas Eve? He thought and then burst out laughing.

It wasn't long before he arrived at his destination, a modest two-story house with a large courtyard that surrounded the entire house. After all, everyone here had big land. If he lived in the city, he would most likely receive in exchange for his house, nothing but a small apartment and maybe even a garage but nothing more.

He drove his car to the end of the driveway and took a deep breath of warm air from his car before getting out of it. The cold wind attacked him immediately, with strong gusts of icy wind straight towards his throat, he covered his neck with his scarf but despite all this, that raging climate left him almost breathless.

"Luckily, the lock didn't freeze," he said aloud, contemplating his fortune before opening the door of his house.

The darkness reigned inside the house, everything was still and all the objects were in place as he had left them before leaving their home. He quickly rubbed his hands and walked quickly to their Christmas tree, once there, he gathered all the gifts under it and after making at least four trips from the house to the trunk of his car, he took his time, drinking a glass of water before returning to his family.

Everything was silent and this made him a little 'anxious, he felt like he was forgetting something important but couldn't remember exactly what. Gifts were in his car, his family was where he had left them... maybe he had to take the children's pajamas with him so they could sleep more comfortably, he thought to himself.

He went upstairs, making the old staircase that had been there for decades creak. "I must remember to change this staircase as soon as possible, it's not possible that every time it makes a noise like that!" He said to himself with an annoyed tone before heading to his children's room.

The faint light of the street lamp not far from the window helped him to orient himself around without the need to turn on the lights. He took the first clothes and put them in a backpack that he had previously taken from the downstairs, done that, he went straight to his room.

He was about to leave his room when he heard some scratching noises in his bedroom, that sudden noise didn't scare him but surprised him so much that he whirled around and turned on the lights. In front of his eyes, there was a macaw with blue plumage, undoubtedly old judging by the brilliance of his plumage and by his beak, not as polished and shiny as before.

"How could I forget about you!" Marco exclaimed, heading to the cage where the macaw was, he unbuttoned his jacket and embraced the macaw covering him with it, with the other hand he took the cage and headed for the car to then place him on the front seat. After all the lights in the house had been shut off, he set off once more in the direction of his brother-in-law's house.

"I'm so sorry, John, I was thinking of going back in the evening, so I decided to not take you with us because of the large number of children," Marco said, not taking his eyes off the road.

"I hope you aren't offended, after all, you are quite old and I am more than certain that you prefer to stay on your own rather than with a bunch of hyperactive kids," he added.

The macaw gave numerous looks to his owner, wondering if he was truly sorry or not. Then he looked out of the window of the car, it wasn't the first time he saw the snow but he still couldn't help but remain enchanted every time by the beauty of it. From where he came from, it almost never snowed and he grew up without ever having the chance to see the snow with his own eyes.

They soon arrived at their destination, Marco decided to move first the presents he had in the trunk, after several journeys there was only the macaw called John left, he covered him again with his jacket, perfectly knowing that an old bird like John suffered the cold and gently carried him inside the house.

Once inside the house, Marco headed to a corner of the room near the fireplace and there he placed the cage of his macaw, he stroked John lightly on his head and then returned to the table where his family was.

"So that's the famous macaw that you talked to me?" Leonardo asked, giving a quick glance in the direction of the blue macaw.

"Yes, he's a gift from my father's brother many years ago, he's been with me for almost twenty years," Marco said, taking his glass of wine he had previously left untouched. "Let's make this toast, I promised it to you and I am a person who keeps his promises."

"Nice! This is the right spirit!" Leonardo exclaimed, raising his glass and toasting it with his brother-in-law.

•••

"Did I ever tell you that you did a great job with your children?" Leonardo suddenly asked, raising his eyes after the umpteenth glass of wine.

"From what I remember, you never told me that before," Marco replied.

"You are a very bad liar, even Elena had told me as soon as she met you," Leonardo said, letting out a hint of sadness that Marco was immediately able to perceive.

"Yeah, she always told me that you were immature and instead, after you got married, you completely changed."

"I really wish that she could see how much I changed since our last time we've talked to each other..."

"It doesn't matter, I'm sure she's looking at us right now," Marco replied, managing to make his brother-in-law smile once again.

"I see you've recovered and become more optimistic than two hours ago..."

"It's all thanks to my children, they remind me every day that they still need me and not to mention John," Marco said, giving a quick glance in the direction of the macaw. "Now it's like I have three children!" he exclaimed, toasting with his brother-in-law once again.

"You're a great father, maybe I have to learn something from you..."

"Are you serious or are you already drunk?" Marco asked mischievously, teasing the competitive spirit of his brother-in-law who immediately replied by pouring more wine into his glass and Marco's one.

•••

After numerous glasses and numerous conversations about anecdotes of their lives, the two grown-up boys were exhausted and destroyed. "I told you to not overdo it!" Leonardo's wife repeated, crossing her arms as she looked down into what state was her husband.

"Come on, it's Christmas! Am I right, Leonardo?" Marco asked, clearly no longer in himself, his movements were incredibly slow it was obvious that he was under the effect of all the alcohol he had just consumed.

"Ex-act-ly! It's Ch-rist-mas!" Leonardo answered, putting an arm on his brother-in-law's shoulder, definitely not in better shape and state than Marco.

Their discussion lasted for several minutes until Leonardo's wife left them alone. Marco sighed, placing his glass on the table as his gaze fell to the void. _'Another Christmas is gone...'_ he thought to himself as he stared at the Christmas tree not far from him, contemplating the silence that was there because the children were upstairs, all ready to go to sleep.

"Do you have anything planned for New Year's Eve?" Leonardo asked, putting down his glass on the table.

"Nothing planned, and you? Do you already know how to celebrate it or where to go?" Marco asked, slightly raising his gaze.

"My family was thinking of spending New Year's Eve abroad and as our destination, we thought we would spend it in the United States."

"Let me guess, are you going to ask me if my family will come with you to the United States?" Marco asked, trying to keep himself from laughing as it was clear to him why his brother-in-law asked him such a question.

"Exactly, I already have an itinerary ready, are you going to come with us?"

"I can't"

Leonardo, after hearing that direct and short reply from his brother-in-law, he almost choked himself while drinking his glass of water. "What?! And why?".

"I cannot take John with me, he's quite old and I can't even leave him alone at home."

"But can't you entrust him to someone? Maybe to the city's vet for about a week?"

"I don't know... John has always been very wary when it comes of strangers and after the death of his mate a few years ago, he has changed."

"How old is that macaw and how long can they live?"

"I don't know the answer to your question, I received the two birds when they were already adults, unfortunately, I don't know what species they belong to," Marco answered looking at his macaw that as usual, slept while he was with his claws firmly gripped on the perch. "Tomorrow I will try to ask the vet, surely it won't be easy to find a compromise with him."

•••

It had been several hours since that conversation, the fireplace's fire had faded and the room was submerged in total darkness. By now they had all gone upstairs to sleep and in the living room, there was nothing left than the macaw called John. He had resigned years ago and was firmly convinced that he will die inside that cage in which he was.

After trying several times to escape as soon as Marco and his family left him walks around the house, they became more and more wary of leaving him alone in a room. Now it was hard to find a single reason to escape from that place that became more and more, his home. He was alone, he didn't even know where to go once escaped, if there was still his mate at his side, he wouldn't have thought twice to escape from there.

Unfortunately, his mate hasn't endured the impact and consequences of events that happened years ago. It had to be an ordinary day for his family and instead... a group of poachers spotted them and hunted them. They were forced to sow them and then split in the hope that at least one of them could return to the nest where their son was sleeping.

He would never have expected to find his mate with him in a cage and then to be transported across the ocean. Although they both suffered a lot for leaving their son alone in the jungle, both of them were aware that their son was too young to survive alone and he couldn't even fly...

Both had surrendered at the idea of having lost their son forever, John did what he could to overcome this wound that seemed incurable but his mate... she had failed to forget, she couldn't forgive herself for something she had no fault of and perhaps... after the various failed attempts to conceive other children, the stress was so high that she didn't manage to remain beside her mate till today.

The only hope John clung to was the one of maybe one day, to see her again and perhaps even with their son. Hoping to fill the emptiness of affection he hadn't been able to give them, the life they deserved... the remorse and the missed opportunity to get the so-called, happy family.

He had stopped getting depressed and had, over time, learned to accept the life he had at the moment. His keeper, Marco, wasn't certainly the best owner in the world, especially after having almost forgotten him, alone at home and with the heating switched off... However, he couldn't help but be fascinated by his vision of life so optimistic and hopeful.

They had many things in common, both were widowed but Marco had what John wanted more than anything else in the world, being able to be a father. Marco had what John had never been able to fully enjoy to the end. Although many times he was a very careless man, John couldn't hate him. Marco treated him well, gave him all the food he needed and a roof under which he lived and what's more, he was innocent, he wasn't the one who caught and snatched him from his home…

John looked up high into the sky, seeing nothing but snowflakes falling on the town now completely white, the sky bewitched him for several minutes, making him wonder if his family was watching him at that precise moment. He was so lost in his thought that he didn't notice that someone had come downstairs and approached him from behind. "Are you still awake at this time of night?"

John slowly turned his head, crossing his gaze with that of his owner, he chirped, trying to talk to him but, after all, he knew that this wasn't possible. He would've been very pleased to be able to talk to him and to thank him for making him feels like a member of his family. Marco, however, was satisfied by the answer he had obtained and opened the cage in which John was closed.

"Look what I brought to you," Marco said, smiling mischievously while holding a mug of a liquid that John couldn't identify at that moment. He thought it was water, so he immediately gave a disinterested gaze in what his owner was holding in his hand. John was almost a hundred percent sure that he was trying to make fun of him.

"Come on, I know it's dark and you cannot tell what's inside the mug, but I can assure you that it isn't just water," he replied, bringing the mug closer to his macaw and making him smell the contents of it.

John's eyes widened as he smelled the odor emanating from the mug, it was an exotic smell, an odor that created an addiction every second he smelled it. He immediately changed his attitude and showed more interested after a few seconds.

"You finally got it, didn't you? Coconut water, I know how much this drink drives you crazy," Marco smiled as he leaned his macaw and the mug on the window sill. Marco watched for several minutes his macaw eagerly drinking, his beak moved quickly back and forth while with his tongue, he collected as much liquid as possible in the shortest amount of time.

"You know... many times I think it's better if I let you free to leave, giving you the freedom to do what you want in your life. However, I just can't do it..." Marco said, raising his arm and urging the macaw to jump on it. John didn't waste time and flew on his arm, they were like old friends, Marco was the last person to whom he had some sympathy in this world now unknown to him.

"I know that the death of Camilla has upset you... I tried to find another mate for you but, without any success and then, I'm sure it wouldn't help you to fill the void you have inside," he added, and then looked out of the window. "In a few days I'll drop by the vet of the city, I'll ask him if he can take care of you for a couple of days as I'll leave with my children for a place very far away from here."

With his hand, he slowly stroked the neck of his macaw, John, caught by surprise by his gesture, slightly opened his beak and gave a small bite to make his owner understand that it was enough. "You really are a weird bird, you complain if I ignore you and you get angry if I give you too much affection..." Marco said, trying to stop himself from screaming in pain despite being a harmless bite.

"Do you want to stay downstairs or get upstairs with me? If you come down from my arm then, it'll mean that you want to stay here otherwise I'll take you up," Marco asked, approaching the cage with his arm, waiting for several seconds to understand what his macaw wanted to do. John firmly held his grip, not moving in the slightest although he was in front of what he had now unwillingly started to call home.

"I would have never thought that a free-spirited bird like you hated to be alone," Marco said, giggling as John was clearly offended by his words. He began to scream with incomprehensible sounds to his owner and this immediately drew Marco's attention. "Hey! They are all sleeping, I won't allow you to wake up neither my family nor that of my brother-in-law!" Marco added and then sealed the beak of his companion with two fingers.

* * *

 **AN: After "A Reason To Live", I came back with another story completely different from my previous one. As you may have seen, there is only one character in this chapter that my old readers already know. I immediately start by saying that this chapter should have been twice as long, in fact, the second chapter is already done but due to lack of time and my imminent departure, I won't have enough time to translate it.**

 **Now I think it's clear what kind of stories I like to write, I won't focus mainly on Blu and Jewel, this isn't because I don't like them but rather, I am of the idea that we already have enough stories that talk about them while very few that focus on their parents and so on. The next chapter (chapter 3) won't come out soon, I will be away from December 24 to January 15 and as soon as I return, I'll be very busy. Unfortunately, I find less and less time to write and the inspiration for the next chapter doesn't always come when I want it.**

 **Unlike my last story, I decided to not keep a fixed schedule, I don't want to be forced to publish a chapter prematurely when it is clear that it must still be thoroughly edited, improved etc... It will be a very short story, with hopefully less than 10 chapters. I take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, take care and have fun with your friends and family.**

 **If you want an opinion on your story from me, write to me via PM or leave a review and I will contact you myself. I don't have much time at my disposal but I'm always happy to help others. With this, see you all in 2019!**

 **PS: the title may change in the future.**

 **~Fenix139**


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